Joba Chamberlain Can't Win; Don't Ask Pat Robertson About Peyton Manning
Today in sports: Pat Robertson wouldn't be adverse to a Peyton Manning neck injury, a gruesome setback for star-crossed Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain and Dick Durbin's reasonable call for Bountygate hearings isn't playing well with Republicans.
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You know who didn't care for the way the Denver Broncos shipped Tim Tebow out of town just hours after signing Peyton Manning? Pat Robertson, that's who. He even went on The 700 Club -- yes, The 700 Club -- and accused the team of treating Tebow "shabbily." Shabbily! Then, as is his wont, he said that if Peyton Manning re-injures his neck it would "serve [Denver] right" for trading away the worst starting quarterback in professional football last year. When you think about it, Robertson's logic is all mixed-up: losing Manning would be unfortunate for Denver, but what would really serve the Broncos right would be Tebow replacing Mark Sanchez, throwing for 5,000 yards, completing 70% of his passes and leading the Jets to the Super Bowl. But not even Pat Robertson is going to float that hypothetical. [via Crooks & Liars]
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One person Tebow won't have to worry about not liking in New York is Drew Stanton, whom the Jets signed last Friday to be Mark Sanchez's back-up, only to lose that cushy gig when the franchise heard the siren song of Tebowmania. The team traded Stanton to the Indianapolis Colts today, which was sporting of them, since Stanton told club officials yesterday he wanted to be traded or granted his release. [ESPN]
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Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois is putting together a Judiciary Committee hearing about the prevalence of bounty systems in professional sports, which seems timely and relevant in light of recent events involving the New Orleans Saints, and the fact that current federal sports bribery laws don't cover bounty pools. Naturally, Durbin's attempt to gather information on what could be a deviously simple way for gamblers to compromise the integrity of sports at all levels isn't going over well with some his Republican colleagues, including Florida's Marco Rubio, who played the doesn't-Washington-have-anything-better-to-do card on Twitter. David Vitter of Louisiana, meanwhile, demanded to know why Durbin didn't call for hearings when Chicago Bears reserve wide receiver Sam Hurd was arrested on drug trafficking charges last year. Durbin's office didn't respond to Vitter's comment, possibly because they were too busy researching the last time the United States Senate held a hearing to learn more about the arrest of a single alleged drug dealer. (Never. That's never happened before. Whereas the NFL is a $9 billion business with an antitrust exemption.) [Politico]
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Former future New York Yankees ace Joba Chamberlain suffered an "open dislocation" of his ankle while playing with his son on a trampoline, losing "a life-threatening amount of blood," Officially, his status for the upcoming season has yet to be determined, but Dr. Steven Weinfield,-- "the Chief of the Foot and Ankle Service and Associate Professor or Orthopedic Surgery at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine" -- tells The New York Daily News that an open fracture is "not only a career-threatening injury, but a limb-threatening injury." (You can click through for the very, very graphic details of what happened. This bloghand suffered a similar leg injury, and couldn't get past the part about "the skin envelope [being] violated.") Chamberlain, 26, missed the bulk of the 2011 season after tearing a ligament in his right elbow. In 2008, he suffered a right shoulder injury that cost him a month and permanently left him with what manager Joe Girardi described as a "watered down" fastball. He was practically unhittable for the final two months of the 2007 season, only to go to pieces after being swarmed by Lake Erie midges while on the mound in Cleveland during the second game of the American League Divisional Series. What we're trying to say is, Joba Chamberlain is a very tough, very unlucky guy. [New York Daily News]
Last week we told you that Jack, the jaunty English bulldog who runs across the court at Georgetown home basketball games, was possibly headed for surgery after tearing his little ACL hopping off the couch. Now his handler, Father Christopher Steck, has confirmed that Jack will be going under the knife, probably next month, because Steck says he wants to be "fully present during recuperation." We don't blame him. Look at that guy. We would want to help him recuperate too, and we have it on good authority that Jack is a grouch and a chewer. But look at him! [D.C. Sports Bog]
